Surf School and what else? Go rafting in Itacaré, Brazil!

It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon when the EasyDrop surf school crew decided to use the day off of surfing to go wild water rafting. After all that exhausting paddling throughout the week it seemed to be the best solution to now let the river do all the work.
No sooner said than done, Sunday morning at nine o´clock we were sitting in a 4x4 car driving to the rafting place a little bit outside of Itacaré. The journey lasted about 1h and after we left the main street and turned into the dirt road it suddenly became clear why we did not get picked up in an ordinary car. The dirt road was very bumpy but provided us with a great view over the landscape of Itacaré´s surrounding. Since sleeping was not an option we shared stories and previous experiences about water rafting. Lars excitement was kept within a limit since his last water rafting experience in Sri Lanka would not even pump adrenaline trough the body of a hydrophobic granny.
However, the first time we realized that this experience might be a little bit different was when the instructors gave us a very detailed introduction about safety. It was conspicuous how often they highlighted the right behavior in case one will fall over the edge or the boat flips over. Nevertheless, by that time I was only surprised about the safety measures in Brazil and did not expect to be floating down the river, without a boat!
Once in the water we shortly trained our paddle coordination and were soon chasing down the stream. Chasing, since Lars, front man and synchronizing pulse generator, was highly motivated to set a new time record on the river. Fortunately, the instructor gave us enough breaks in order to enjoy the beautiful view. The river is surrounded by the Atlantic rainforest and looped around rocks, creating a stunning landscape.
The instructor stopped the boat in front of the first rapid, explaining again all scenarios and right behaviors. But, even though the rapid convinced us that we need to do a little more than just floating down the river, we managed to pass the section with all members in the boat. Still celebrating our great performance, we were facing the next rapid already. Although we just tanked a lot of self confidence, the rapid looked even tighter and steeper than the first one. The vultures that were sitting next to the shore did not gave us a better feeling either but we had no choice. Paddle paddle paddle, and then everything happened very fast! Ready, Steady and Fly, the noise ducked into the water catapulting the whole crew out of the boat. Paddles were flying around and one after another popped up to the surface struggling for air. While some people were floating down the river without a boat, the others were captured in a bowl between rocks trying to flip the boat over again. As soon as the team was complete again, we stopped at the side to find some rest and recharge our energy. The instructors invited us to use the opportunity to climb on the rocks and jump into the river. It was a nice alternation before we were taking on the challenge again. Even though we needed to face a few more difficult passages, we managed to maneuver the boat and arrived safe.
Back at the rafting headquarter we used the “Tirolesa” in order to slide down from a tower into the water. Unfortunately one did not get a lot of speed but one had a great view over the river. However, the funniest thing was to watch the others entering the water since the whole body was used to slow down.
After a whole day of activities we really deserved our lunch, which was served at the veranda next to the headquarter. It was really tasty and gave us enough energy for the journey back. Even though it was more exhausting as expected, we had a really nice day full of adventure. The crew was very nice and professional, providing a good mixture of adventure and safety.